In order to clarify the effects of different germination treatment time on the structure and characteristics of zein in corn grains， this paper took zein in corn grains with different germination treatment time as the research object. Fourier infrared diffraction， X-ray diffraction， SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis， differential thermal scanning， free sulfhydryl group and disulfide bond were used to analyze the secondary structure， crystallinity， sulfhydryl group， disulfide bond， thermal properties and emulsification properties of zein during germination. The results showed that the secondary structure α-helix and β-corner structure of zein after germination were decreased by 8.05% and 9.08%， respectively， while the β-fold content was increased by 4%-23%. Meanwhile， the disulfide bond was broken after germination， and the content of free sulfides was significantly increased (P<0.05). The molecular weight of proteins also changed after germination. The bands of high molecular weight proteins migrated downward， while the content of low molecular weight proteins migrated upward and decreased. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the crystallinity of zein changed after germination， and the peak at 9° tended to be gentle at the later stage of germination. The DSC results showed that the denaturation temperature of zein was increased by 6.43 ℃ on average. The emulsification and emulsification stability of the germinated zein were improved， and the emulsification index was increased by 10.53 m2/g at 72 h of germination， and the emulsification stability index was increased by 81.36 min at 60 h of germination compared with that at no germination. The results showed that proper germination treatment could modify the structure of zein and improve its physicochemical properties.